A New Life
by Valiom
Summary: A New Life. A New Start. Everyone has dreamed of being able to redo life. To change certain decisions that you made and later regretted. Imagine if you not only got a new life to live, but also a new world to explore. Teen Tyler Odom has been given this "restart" to life. Entering a new world as a new person, he must carve out a path and secure his future. -RATING MAY GO UP-
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

"Today, scholars, we will talk about the difference between a multinational state and a nationstate."

Turning to his board, I watched as Mr. Jones studied the two pictures on the board for a couple seconds. One picture showed a state, an independent geo-political entity (or what normal people call a country), with X's of the same color inside of it. The other showed a state with X's of different colors. I could imagine him trying to remember exactly what his lecture was as he always went up with nothing besides the drawings and phrases on the blackboard.

"Right," he began as he turned back to the class and straddled his stool, as if it were a horse, "let's say that the X's represent a particular nationality. You," he pointed at the student that sat two seats in front of me, "which little 's' state would you want to rule over?"

I saw the kid look from one picture to another before his gaze finally fell upon the state with the same color X's, "That one."

"Why?"

"Because they're all the same," replied the boy. Jones nodded before his eyes settled on me.

"You. What's your name again?"

"Tyler Odom."

"Right, right," he said with a nod, "Why, do you think, he had said that he would want to rule the little 's' state he chose?"

"Because everyone is the same nationality," I replied, sure of my answer.

"But why?" he asked, a smile creeping on his face, "Why? I thought diversity was a good thing. Yay for diversity!"

The class gave a few chuckles at his acting and how he threw his hands in the air in mock celebration. I even found myself smiling. Giving a quick glance around the classroom, I saw one of the girls giving me a thumbs up, which made me shake my head in amusement. Heather was her name and she had been in my history class last year. She was also the one who I had, had lengthy debates with when the teacher had let us debate a subject. Usually, I ended up winning the debate with her going into the trap of circular reasoning. However, we respected each other for this. I had enjoyed finding someone who could make me think fast and keep me on my toes.

"Because," I started, "if everyone is the same nationality, there would be less internal violence. It would be easier to rule because everyone would most likely think the same when it comes to making a decision."

Jones smiled more and hopped off of his stool, "Exactly! See, in a nationstate, everyone is the same. Culture wise, language wise, thought wise, and so on. Everyone believes that they belong to that state. Some examples would be Japan, Germany, and there's a few others that I can't remember at the moment," he gave a quick swing of the hand at the other picture, "A multinational state is a state that contains at least two different nationalities. They don't see themselves as belonging to that state or as being the same as everyone in the state. A prime example would be our northern neighbor Canada. In Canada, there are two different kinds of Canadians that greatly despise each other. They're the English speaking Canadians and the French Canadians."

He paused and looked around the room. Finally, he pointed at a small, cute blonde girl that sat close to his desk, "You, say you're in charge of the multinational state. Also say that you're a member of the red nationality, the majority, and you're state goes to war. Can you depend on the blues, greens, and yellows?"

The girl blankly stared at the board. I felt sorry for her because, one, she got called on, and two, it looked like you could tilt her head sideways, pour water in one ear, and it'd instantly come out the other ear. Finally, after what felt like a couple minutes, she said simply, "No."

"But why? You're all part of the same state," Jones stopped his frantic hand-waving at the board to ask the girl a question, "What's your last name?"

"Uhr."

"You're all Uhrians!" the class laughed again, "So why can't you depend on them?"

Another couple minutes, or what felt like it, passed before she spoke up to answer, "They aren't the same nationality as me."

"Ah," Jones replied as he took up a thoughtful pose. He looked back at the drawings, then at the clock, and then back at us students, "Than what the heck is America?"

Silence echoed back as we all looked from one to the other, seeing who had the answer. After a couple scans around the room, I saw Heather raise her hand, causing Jones to point at her, giving her the go-ahead to speak, "Aren't we a nationstate?"

"We aren't the same though. You sure don't look like Juan over there and I know he speaks Spanish. How can a state so diverse as the United States be a nationstate?" Jones asked, playing the Devil's Advocate, as usual.

When Heather didn't immediately move to answer or raise her hand, I rose mine. After the go-ahead, I asked, "Is it because we are diverse?"

Jones gave a brief, fake, look of enlightenment before nodding his head and straddling his stool once more, "It is. The United States has always been focused on tolerance and it is this shared tolerance to diversity that make us the same. It is also our liking of our personal freedoms. Those two ideals bring us together as a nationality. It's what allows Spanish-speaking Juan and white-girl Heather to be the same nationality."

As soon as he finished talking, the bell rang. As we stood to leave, Jones yelled out, "Remember! You're unit questions will be due soon!"

Hurriedly, I had closed my notebook and shoved it and my pencil into my bookbag. Jumping to my feet, I fast-walked out of the classroom. Turning right at the end of the hall, I went straight through the commons area to a set of doors. Pushing through the doors, I began to walk towards the school's Western parking lot. I was so happy to be out of school. It was Thursday but we had Friday and the coming Monday off, leaving us with a four day weekend. I had also fully bought Skyrim during lunch.

I had rented it before and, after playing it, I was hooked. Going to my town's Gamestop at lunch, I bought the game for a semi-fair price and was just aching to continue the storyline. Even though I had rented it, I already had two characters that were at least halfway through the storyline. They were both the species but I had done one male and one female to see what difference that would make, to which there was none. I had also done it to where the first had escaped with the Stormcloak while the second, the female, had escaped with the Imperial. Again, besides minor changes, it ended up being mostly the same.

However, I was now going to try to play as different species and try to actually finish the storyline. Stepping off the sidewalk and onto the asphalt, I began to turn towards where my truck was parked and-


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

"_Are you awake yet cat?"_

_Slowly, the blackness faded into an image of a rocky ledge. Standing about a foot from the edge was a big, blonde-haired human with a giant sword on his back. He wore what looked like iron armor with matching gauntlets and plain, leather boots._

_Knelt down in front of him was what looked like a cat dressed in human clothing. It only took a few seconds of thought for me to identify the being as a Khajiit, which meant that the human was most likely a Nord. I was helpless in this dream world, merely a spectator as I watched the Khajiit blink open his blue eyes and look up at the Nord. The beast's ears, which had lynx-like fur extensions on the top of them, flattened against his head and his pupils narrowed. The Nord had tied the Kahjiit's hands and feet, leaving him immobile._

"_Ah, you are awake," stated the Nord with a cruel smile as he looked down at the Khajiit, whose only clothing was a pair of briefs over his groin, "What's wrong? Did you steal your own tongue?"_

_The Nord laughed boisterously at his horrible joke. When the Khajiit didn't give any response, the Nord swung his fist and landed a punch on the Khajiit's cheek. The beast's head snapped to the right from the hit and some blood flew from his mouth. After the hit, he looked back at the Nord, the signs of aggression still present._

"_Before I kill you," began the Nord as he briefly examined his fist, "I would appreciate it if you gave me your name. My employer likes names, as I'm sure you know."_

_The Khajiit threw his head back and gave a hearty laugh, "You Nords are ignorant, if not all out stupid. Why would I tell a brute my name when the brain already knows it?"_

_The Nord smiled again, this time with a hint of knowing, "He did warn me you'd act like this," the Nord's fist swung again, connecting with the Khajiit's nose. I watched, helplessly, as blood began to pour out of the Khajiit's nostrils._

"_So, Bastil, any last words?" asked the Nord. There was a brief look of surprise on the Khajiit's face but as soon as it had appeared, it was gone._

"_I hope you fall in the disfavor of the Divines, Nord," Bastil replied._

_The Nord gave a short laugh before kicking out with his right foot. Closing his eyes, Bastil seemed to accept his fate as his body left the ledge and began it's descent to the ground below. The Nord laughed heartily before turning and beginning his descent from the mountain. I looked at the empty ledge, feeling only horror, as my view faded to black._

Carefully, I opened my eyes to the view of green trees. Pain surged through my body, causing my eyes to snap closed. After what felt like hours of hissing in pain, I opened my eyes again. Looking around, I saw lush, green trees, green bushes, and I even spotted an elk trotting through this forest. _Alamogordo's a desert. Where the hell am I? _I thought worriedly to myself. It was whenever I tried to move my hands and feet to stand that I discovered that they seemed to be cuffed together.

Now starting to really worry, I started to pushed myself into a sitting position when I noticed that my nose had gotten bigger. Not only had it gotten to where I could now visibly see it, but it was hairier and had, _Whiskers? What the hell is going on?_

Fighting through the pain, I got myself to a sitting position. I looked at my feet to see that, not only was I just wearing a pair of tan briefs, my legs and feet were covered with fur and my toes ended in claws. In this sitting position, I felt something trickle from my nose. Licking at it, with a tongue that I noticed was a bit rougher, I tasted the copper taste of blood. A quick check confirmed that my entire frame was now covered in fur and that I now had claws on my hands and feet.

Reaching up with my hands, which were luckily tied in front of me, I brushed them over my head. At the top of my head, they ran into the cat ears that I had already assumed were there. My brain was now in overtime, _I'm a cat? The hell is happening? Why am I in a forest? What was that dream about? Was the Khajiit in that dream me?_

That last thought brought all the other thoughts to an abrupt thought. It was true that I felt the same injuries as the Khajiit had endured during the Nord's torture and it did feel as if I fell from a high place. Obviously, I was now a man-sized cat creature, like the Khajiit. I was also dressed like the Khajiit from the dream and shared the same dark gray fur color. In front of me was a cliff that rose high into the sky, going above the tree canopy.

_I'm in Skyrim. _Multiple emotions flowed through me. Excitement, fear, anxiety, sadness. Mostly, it was confusion. _How am I here? What happened to me in my world? Why did that Nord try to kill me?_ A brief pause in thought, _Shit. I was almost killed. I'm still tied up too, I need to move._

Hurriedly, I brought my feet close to my hands. Holding them there was painful but soon my claws had sawed through the rope bounding my feet together. Not wanting to be around should the Nord come down to check on his kill, I stood. Choosing a random direction away from the cliff, I started to run.

I heard shouting behind me, followed by the hard thumps of someone running. Glancing behind me, I saw the Nord from my dream sprinting after me. He looked pissed as he drew a dagger from his waist.

"Shit, shit, shit," I cursed as I pushed my legs harder, trying to stay ahead of the angry Nord. As I ran, I brought my hands to my mouth. Using the sharp teeth that I now had, I tried to bite my way through the rope. It was a slow, and painful process, as I paid more attention to not tripping but soon the ropes fell away. With my hands free, my arms began pumping, trying to offer whatever extra speed they could.

Looking back, I saw the Nord still chasing after me. Where I was hurt and fumbling, he was fine and steady. I knew that if I tried to take him, I would lose. However, I also knew that it was more likely that I'd tire before he did. I was running out of both options and strength.

Suddenly, there was a loud roar followed by a crash as something fell into the dirt. Glancing back I saw a Sabre Cat standing over the face-down Nord, it's fangs and jaw red with fresh blood. I don't know what possessed me to do so but I found myself skidding to a halt. Once fully stopped, I turned and faced the Sabre Cat. I felt my ears flatten against my head and my vision became a lot more concentrated on the wild predator. My tail rose as I stared down the Sabre Cat, which began to mimic my actions.

With a great roar, the beast began to charge towards me. Digging my feet into the ground, I readied myself for what I'd do next. When the Sabre Cat finally leaped at me, I pushed myself to the right. A claw cut my arm but otherwise I got out of the way in time. Digging my own claws into the ground, I sprinted for the dead Nord. I could hear the Cat coming around and start to give chase.

A couple feet from the corpse, I dove forward. Grabbing the hilt of the Nord's greatsword, I yanked it from his back and tilted it upward. Closing my eyes, I waited what felt like an eternity before I heard the wet noise of a blade entering another being. Opening my eyes, I looked towards the blade to see that it had impaled the Sabre Cat through it's mouth, which had been open and ready to bite down on me.

Dropping the now heavy sword, I panted as I stared at the two corpses. Both had tried to kill me and yet here I was, looking at their corpses. _This is insane, _I thought to myself as I looked at my surroundings.

After a lot of thinking, I crawled over to the dead Nord and began to strip him of his armor and gear. Overall, he had the leather boots, the iron gauntlets, iron armor, a coin purse, a folded note, a water skin with little water left, the iron dagger, and the iron greatsword. Leaving the sword where it was, in the Sabre's throat, I slowly put on the armor, gauntlets, and boots before strapping the dagger's sheath to my belt. Tying the coin purse to the belt, I hopped up and down gently. Of course, the armor was a little big but it would have to last me until I could find a blacksmith and have my own made.

Taking one last look at the dead Sabre Cat and the dead, and now naked, Nord, I sighed. _Nice way to enter a world, _was my thought as I turned and started to walk away. The pain was now bearable, however I knew that if I did not find a town soon, I would be in trouble as I had no food, little water, and my nose continued to bleed, albeit more slowly than before.

"Off to see the wizard," I muttered to myself, chuckling softly.


End file.
